FLINT, MI -- Former Flint emergency manager Darnell Earley is refusing to testify on the city's water crisis during a Congressional hearing Wednesday, Feb. 3, and Democrats are pushing Gov. Rick Snyder to direct him otherwise.

U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., issued a statement Tuesday, Feb. 2, saying Earley's refusal to testify hurts the committee's search for answers about how Flint's water crisis was allowed to happen.

Democrats, who make up a minority of the committee, have already complained that Snyder himself was not called to testify.

"At Wednesday's hearing, we won't hear from the governor, any of the emergency managers he appointed in Flint, or anyone else from the state who was involved in making decisions that led to this crisis," Cummings statement says.

"In our search for the truth, we must hear from everyone involved to understand what happened. Having such a one-sided hearing undermines the credibility of the committee and subjects the committee to accusations of partisanship. No matter who is responsible, the people of Flint deserve a comprehensive investigation that gets them answers -- not a partisan effort to protect the governor and others who brought about this crisis."

The Flint Journal-MLive could not immediately reach Earley or a representative for U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the oversight committee, for comment.

"Keith Creagh, director of the Department of Environmental Quality, plans to speak before the committee this week, talking about challenges faced in Flint and what the department is doing moving forward to protect the health and safety of residents. That's our focus now," Murray's statement says.

In addition to Cummings' statement, the Michigan Democratic Party released a statement Tuesday, calling on Snyder to "demand" Earley's testimony before Congress, and State Sen. Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, said the former emergency manager shouldn't be able to "dodge his responsibility to fully comply with every investigation about his role in the Flint water crisis."

"The governor must demand that he testify before Congress tomorrow and be completely transparent in turning over every document related to what happened," Ananich said.

In addition to Earley, the committee witness list includes U.S. Environmental Protection Agency representatives, Virginia Tech university professor Marc Edwards and Creagh.

Earley may not want to testify, but he has stated his opinion on responsibility for the Flint lead in water crisis in the past.

Flint's emergency manager from September 2013 until January 2015 said in an email to The Flint Journal-MLive in October that the decision to use the Flint River as the city's water source in April 2014 was made months before Snyder appointed him to run the city.

"The decision to separate from (the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department) and go with the Karegnondi Water Authority, including the decision to pump Flint River water in the interim, were both a part of a long-term plan that was approved by Flint's mayor, and confirmed by a City Council vote of 7-1 in March of 2013 -- a full seven months before I began my term as emergency manager," Earley's email says.

Members of the council, the mayor and others have taken issue with that history because both the council and the mayor had been stripped of their authority after the governor declared a financial emergency here and appointed four different emergency managers to run the city.